Finder's Fee
by humorousandparanoid
Summary: Anri arrives home to find her cellphone had been stolen, and because of all the sensitive information on the phone about her, her friends and their illegal activities, she can't go to the police. There is only one other person she knows who might be able to help, but what will the information broker's price be? Only slight romance.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Anri stood on the overly crowded train with a look of indifference across her face. Celty had asked Anri to give her a little help on a job she was required to do, Anri simply had to find her Saika children to hopefully get a little information on a group of people Celty had been hired to deal with. Once they had gotten the information they needed, Celty had been willing to get Anri home, but Shinra had called with another job for her that needed to be done quickly. Anri was glad to help Celty, but the job had taken place in Mukaihara, a twenty five minute train ride outside Ikebukuro. Celty apologized profusely and swore she'd make it up to Anri, and had even offered to pay for Anri's train ride. Anri had, of course, said that there was no problem and refused the money, bidding Celty luck on her job as she left.

As Anri got elbowed for the fourth time in a minute, she idly wondered if there was a limit to how many people were allowed onto a train because, if there was, she was fairly certain that they had long since exceeded it.

Anri released a slow sigh when she heard overhead that her stop was the one coming up and began pushing her way closer to the door, eager to get out of the hot, crowded environment. The doors opened and a cold breeze blew through her short hair. She rushed into the station hoping to beat the crowd to the exit. Just as she made it through the doors, someone shoved into her. She stumbled before regaining her balance and looked around for the cause and saw a man with his head turned slightly towards her. He had short, scruffy, dark hair with dark eyes that were looking at her and was wearing a wrinkled suit. He mumbled something in a scratchy voice, which Anri assumed was an apology, before rushing off into the streets of Ikebukuro.

Anri opened the door to her apartment before too long and went almost immediately to her bed. She had gotten up early to get to a class representatives meeting that was being held before school to discuss an upcoming event, then had ran some errands after school before Celty had contacted her and now it was late enough that, if her parents were still alive, she was sure she would have been scolded about returning at this time. Maybe. It wasn't that late, but her parents were strict and she was a teenaged girl in a city, so, probably.

Anri was just about to get undressed when she thought she should send Celty a message that she made it back alright, not that Celty had anything to worry about but she had a tendency to do so anyway. She went to find her coat, which she had folded over the back of her desk chair as she walked into the apartment. She felt the pockets, searching for her phone, but when she didn't feel it she scrunched her eyebrows and went to search her school bag. She couldn't see nor feel it when she dug around the bag and had even pulled out all of her school books and placing them on her desk a to look more easily, which she'd forgotten about her homework, but it was Saturday and she didn't have school tomorrow so she didn't worry about it. She groaned as she realized it wasn't there and sat on the floor trying to think of where it could be.

She sighed and went to her neighbor that never seemed to sleep and timidly knocked on the door. When the man opened the door, cigarette between his teeth and long hair pulled back into a loose elastic, Anri almost decided her phone wasn't worth it and walked away, but the feeling of Saika wriggling beneath her skin reminded her that she nothing to fear of the man in front of her.

"I'm sorry, but can I borrow your phone for a minute?" She asked in a quiet voice.

The man inhaled a bit of the cigarette then spoke, smoke escaping his mouth as he did so, "Ya, sure, it's in the kitchen." He scratched the back of his head as he turned and walked down a hallway that was identical to her own, presumably returning to whatever it was he was doing before the knock on his door disturbed him.

Anri walked into the smoke scented apartment and closed the door behind her and walked into the kitchen that was, once again, the very same as hers but different at the same time, giving her an odd feeling. She quickly located the phone on the small counter and dialed her number and listened to the ringing until it clicked and a scratchy male voice answered.

"Ya, who's this?" The voice said. Anri thought that he should have been a bit more polite since he's answering someone else's phone.

"Hello, um," She never thought about what she was going to say if someone answered, "you found my phone, it has some personal information that I need, so if you would send it back-" Anri was cut off when she heard the dial tone, signaling the other person had hung up. Her eyes flashed red in a moment of anger.

 _What was the point in answering if you weren't going to return the phone! Obviously no one would be calling you on it!_

Anri felt Saika itch the palm of her hand, wanting to come out, reacting to Anri's anger. Anri took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down and turned to leave once she had control over Saika again.

Anri went back to her own apartment, she thought she should let her neighbor know she was leaving so that he could lock his door, but ignored the thought as he would probably hear her leave anyways. She sat on her bed and thought about what she should do. She could call the police. No, she turned that thought down, her phone had all the slasher incidents on it, and no one had ever caught he slasher so she could be in trouble if they went through her phone, not to mention that her and Celty often talk about Celty's or Shinra's very illegal work and she didn't want to get them into trouble. She could look for the person herself. But she didn't even know where to start, or where her phone even was when she lost it. Or if she lost it.

At that thought, Anri's head shot up. The man who ran into her when there was no reason to, there had been enough space for several people to walk at that time, yet he ran right into her. And if she thought about it enough, the mumbled voice of the man did sound similar to the one on the phone. He probably wasn't even apologizing when she looked at him, he was probably swearing at himself for letting her see him when he had just stolen from her.

Anri groaned at herself while running her hand through her bangs and rubbing the heel of her hand against her forehead. How could she have been so stupid?

As Anri berated herself and thought through all her options, she came to realize there was only one and she had to go fast or she'd miss the last train and she still needed to find a public phone so that she knew she could find him. She grabbed her wallet and coat, along with a card that had a number she was unsure why she kept but was now glad she did.

She ran to the station and found a public phone and quickly entered both her phone card and the phone number as there was only a few minutes before the train arrived.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the call both sang and had an edge to it, but Anri was thankful to hear it either way.

"Is this Izaya Orihara?" She asked.

"Hello, Anri. What can I do for you?" Izaya's voice held the last syllable for slightly longer than necessary, still in a sing song tone.

"Are you in Shinjuku?"

"Are you coming to kill me?" Anri huffed lightly, she only had maybe a minute.

"I need help, and if you don't answer I'll miss the train."

"Oh, is it that time already? Well, fine, yes. I'm home in Shinjuku. I assume you know the way."

Anri nodded but then spoke out a yes, and she heard Izaya call to someone that they have a guest coming so to get some things ready before she heard the train arriving and ran aboard, unsure if she even managed to hang up the phone properly.

 **Hello, Muses, this is just something that came into my head a while ago, and so I started to write it out. I'm thinking this will only be four to six chapters long, probably four, I'm not really sure yet. So, yeah, let me know what you guys thought of this chapter and I'll be back soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It was a full forty-five minutes later when Anri finally knocked on Izaya's door. She was surprised and honestly thought she was at the wrong address when a female with long brown hair answered the door instead of the informant, before the woman sighed and said, "Why's a young girl like you visiting a jerk like him?" before leading Anri inside to some couches in front of a desk.

The woman left for a few minutes, leaving Anri to sit quietly on the couch, then came back holding two cups of steaming liquid with a yawning Izaya in tow. When he saw Anri, he gave her a smile that would disarm so many people, but put her on edge, back straight, eyes narrow. The woman seemed to realize this and raised an eyebrow in silent thought, but seemed to smile a little and placed the tea on the table before leaving the room again.

Smile still in place, Izaya spoke, "I apologize for the wait, Anri. I was taking a small nap."

"There's no need for your apology, Izaya. If anything, I should be apologizing for the late hour." Anri may be wary of him, but she was a parasite first and foremost, and keeping up her polite persona was part of that.

Izaya sat down coolly, either not noticing or not caring that Anri wasn't at ease around him, most likely the latter, and probably liking it that way. "Yes, just what was so important that you came all the way to Shinjuku to see me after your busy day."

Anri's eyes narrowed further, "What do you know about my day?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "Well, it was my job that you did with Celty in Mukaihara. Good job on that by the way."

She hadn't been aware of that. He continued, "Would you like to know why?"

Anri shook her head. "I only came here for help. Nothing else."

"Always so serious, Anri." He chuckled, quirking his head to the side. "So, what do you need help with?"

"A man stole my phone." Izaya raised his eyebrow in question.

"Is that it?" He asked in confusion.

"It has some sensitive information about me and a few other people on it. Yourself included." It was a small fib, but it might get him to help her quicker.

Izaya's smile widened, "About me?" He laughed, "And just what about me, my dear Anri?" A shiver went up her spine at the endearment.

Rather than completely lie her face off, she only said in her most serious tone, "You aren't the only one who can trade for information, Izaya."

Izaya's smile finally left his face at her words as he stood up. Anri felt Saika twitch beneath her skin and she felt a trickle of fear run through her as she met Izaya's eyes in that moment. Saika relaxed again as he turned toward his computer.

Anri watched him click away at his keyboard from her seat on the couch, eyes darting across the screen. They sat with only the hum of the computer and the clacking of keys to fill the silence for a long enough time that Anri had finished her tea and her eyelids began to feel heavy.

"Hm." The small sound from Izaya forced Anri to refocus on his figure to see a small, sly smirk sitting on his lips. She knew from experience with the man that this only meant that he had whatever information he needed and was waiting to trap his prey to get what he wanted. A few more clicks of his mouse and taps on his keyboard before he stood up suddenly with a jovial, yet somehow condescending, laugh.

Izaya stretched walking to the couch yet again, before plopping beside Anri, almost close enough for their bodies to touch. "Your phone will be here within the hour, my dear Anri." Anri ignored the shiver that once again made itself known.

"How did you-?" Izaya chuckled, turning towards Anri, placing his folded arm on the back of the couch, resting his head on his hand.

"Why, Anri, I'm the best at getting what I want, and what I want is information. You should know that. After all, you did come to me to retrieve a lost item."

"Did you know who took my phone?" Anri found herself asking.

Izaya's eyes widened in mock offense as he chuckled, "Anri, I understand that I'm not the most trustworthy person, but do you really think I would have some random person commit a petty crime such as stealing a teenage girl's cellphone?"

"Not unless there was some information you want on it. Like you said, you are the best as getting what you want." Anri retorted.

"I already have all the information I could possibly need on you, and all the people you associate with."

Anri opened her mouth to reply but the woman from before came back into the room carrying something in her arms. She stopped and placed the pile on the table, which Anri realized was a set of pajamas and a toothbrush, still in it's package. Anri looked up at the woman confused, but she was already walking back in the direction she came.

"Ah, thank you, Namie." Izaya called out to the woman, Namie, who just 'tch'ed in reply. It wasn't hard for Anri to notice that Namie didn't like Izaya at all, so she wasn't sure why the woman was in his home, seemingly working as his attendant.

"Now then, Anri," Izaya said, stretching as he stood once again, "It's getting rather late, you should take those and head to bed."

"Take those?" Anri whispered in confusion before she realized he meant for her to sleep here, in his home. "Oh, no, I couldn't. I was just going to go back home after I got my phone."

"Go back home?" Izaya asked in reply, "How were you going to do that? The trains are down for the night. You know that. And I can't very well let a young girl like you walk all that distance, even if it were the middle of the day, nevermind at night, it's far too dangerous."

Anri knew most of what he was saying was just for fun, he knew quite well that she could handle the 'dangers' on her own. But, he did have a point, it was too far to walk, and she somehow had forgotten that the trains were done for the night.

Anri released a quiet sigh, "I can at least wait for my phone."

"No need!" Izaya said loudly, "I'll be up most of the night working. The night is when the most interesting things happen, after all."

Anri thought he sounded a little too happy to be staying up all night waiting for crime, but it was then that she remembered just how tired she was and stood up while hesitantly picking up the pajamas and toothbrush.

"Where will I be sleeping?" Anri asked, barely holding back a yawn as she walked in the direction of the door she'd seen Namie come in and out of.

Izaya walked with her to the door, "Turn left and it's the only door. There's a small connected bathroom." Anri stepped into the darkened hallway and could see the outline of a door a little ways down from her. "You'll be sleeping in my room."

At those words, Anri's heart jumped in her chest from shock, and she spun to deny the room, but Izaya was already closing the door, a wide smile on his face with laughter on his lips. She thought she heard a click of a lock and thought it would be rude to yell at Izaya, considering the time of night. Maybe he just didn't have any other rooms to offer, Anri thought to herself.

With another sigh of defeat, she made her way down the hall, mentally preparing herself to enter Izaya Orihara's room. When she opened the door and found the light switch, she wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting, but Izaya's bedroom was normal. There were two doors on the wall to the right, which she assumed were a closet and the bathroom he had mentioned, a dresser, a bed and two nightstands on either side. It was all done in some type of dark wood with silver handles. She had at least been expecting a bookcase, but then remembered that there had been an innumerable amount stretching along the walls in that other room.

Anri yawned and walked over to one of the doors at the side of the room, correctly guessing which was the bathroom, and quickly changed, folding her own clothes and placing them on the counter, and brushed her teeth. She made her way back into the bedroom and turned out the light, and almost made it across the room in the darkness just fine, but hit her knee on the corner of the bedframe. Letting out a small grunt of pain before moving to the side and following the bed by the feel of the soft blankets under her fingertips, and crawled under them once she finally reached the top, falling asleep in seconds.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

When Anri was roused from her sleep the next morning, she was warm and comfortable, until she opened her eyes, then she was confused and lost. She quickly shot up, putting on her glasses and blearily looking around the unknown room, trying to remember where she was and how she got there.

She remembered helping Celty, then taking the train home, getting home and going to message Celty but not finding her phone... Oh, she was in Shinjuku, in Izaya's house, in his bed. Anri blinked a few times, then allowed herself to blush at the thoughts of a teenager like herself in an older man's bed. She quickly regained control of her emotions. She wasn't just any teenage girl, like she would be with an older man like that, especially if that older man was Izaya.

Anri shivered as she stepped out of bed onto the chilled wooden floors and walked into the hallway to go to the room that she had been in the night before. When she had entered the room, she saw Izaya laying across one of the couches with a thin blanket half covering his upper body and half spilling onto the floor. She hesitated at the door. Should she head back to his room and wait until she heard him or Namie wake up and start moving around, or should she wait here so that they know that she is awake? But wouldn't it be odd if she just sat here quietly while Izaya slept only feet away, but she also felt it would be odd if she just sat in Izaya's room with nothing to do.

Anri was still debating what to do when she heard a cough behind her, jumping in shock she turned around to see Namie, fully dressed holding a tray with coffee and food on it, and Anri's stomach grumbled at the thought of food. She moved out of the doorway and Namie walked passed her and placed the tray on the table and began taking the plates and cups off of it. When she stood straight again, she looked at Izaya and rolled her eyes at him, and Anri once again found herself wondering why Namie was here when she obviously disliked Izaya.

"Excuse me?" Anri managed to say, her voice quiet and cracking lightly from disuse, "Namie?"

Namie looked at Anri, raising a slender eyebrow, and Anri took that as permission to continue, "You don't like him, so why are you here? Why do you do this?"

Namie let out a huff of a laugh and rolled her eyes, "Unfortunately, I got into a bit of trouble, and Izaya knows everything about it, so he is both blackmailing me, and it's also ongoing payment for his ongoing help." Anri's eyes widened, as she hadn't thought of the payment Izaya would ask for his help, "He saved me from being taken by police and everyone else who is looking for me, and by having me stay here, is still keeping me from it. I don't like it, but it's better than prison or even death if I'm caught by other certain groups I angered." Anri nodded and Namie walked out of the room, Anri idly wondered what it was that Namie got herself into, or did.

She walked over to another of the couches and sat quietly. She sat for a minute before Namie came back into the room and woke Izaya up, unsurprisingly to Anri, in a rather rude way and even cursing at the sleeping man when he didn't wake up right away.

"You don't have to be so mean, Namie." Izaya said, not even sounding like he was actually bothered at having been awoken in such a way.

Breakfast passed quietly and quickly, and Anri tried to think of how she would make Izaya's payment. Sometimes he trades information, but he already said that he knew everything he needed to know about her and the people she knew. Other times he asked for favours, and she wasn't sure how she felt about owing a favour to Izaya Orihara. The rest of the time he asked for money, but Anri was a parentless teenager in high school, she had no money.

Anri slumped at her thoughts, it seemed the only thing she could do, in all her distaste for it, was a favour. She just hoped it wouldn't be too much. Maybe if she could set her own terms to the favour, it wouldn't be too bad.

Izaya stood up while Anri was still in her thoughts and Namie gathered dishes. She heard the gliding and clack of a drawer being opened and closed, then Izaya was in front of her, a familiar cell phone in his hand.

She went to take her phone from him, but he moved his hand just out of her reach, sitting on the edge of the small table directly across from her. A smile and devious look appeared in his eyes as he leaned on one hand, the other holding her phone between two fingers by his face, showcasing it off to her.

"Did you know that you and I have the same type of phone, Anri?" Izaya said in an innocent way that was belied by his smile and eyes. Anri shook her head anyways. "I take it you do know about my payment, though." This time Anri nodded in response.

"What is it you want in return? You said you already know all that you need about me, so you can't get any information about me, and it also means you know that I have no money." Anri spoke calmly, but on the inside, she kind of dreaded what he would ask.

"You have no school today, correct?" Anri knew he already knew the answer but nodded anyway.

"I'm going to give you two options, my dear Anri." Anri once again felt a shiver at the endearment. "One is that you will owe me a favour, which I can call upon at any given time that I choose." Anri had expected this one, so she was left to wonder what the other might be.

"The other is that you have to spend the rest of the day with me." Izaya spoke with the ease that a friend would speak to another.

"Can I set some terms for the favour?" Anri deadpanned.

"Anri, I'm hurt that you don't want to spend the day with me after all that I've done. I even gave you my room." Anri kept her eyes locked on his.

Izaya huffed, "Fine, one term. That's it. You better choose quick, the second offer is a one time deal that will end before too long."

Anri thought through her options. Izaya specifically said that the favour could be asked at anytime, so she couldn't have her term change that. She could say that she refuses to cause harm to anyone. Her mind drifted to the second option. If she did that, her payment was over and done with today. That definitely felt like it would be better than sitting and waiting for whatever favour Izaya might ask. It could take place tomorrow, which could be good, but it could also be months from now, and she might go crazy if she had to wait to get a call from Izaya at any given moment for that long. However, it meant being with Izaya the entire day, no matter what happens.

Anri sighed, choosing the option she might live to regret.


End file.
